Halo: The Infinity's Storm
by Construct Master
Summary: These are the lives/missions of Fireteam Storm and Spartan codename: CONSTRUCT aboard the UNSC Infinity. Sorry, Not good at summaries. This is my first story, so constructive criticism welcomed! Note to fanfiction staff: sorry about the caps for each word, fixing this is a priority! Rated T for standard HALO violence, no profanity.
1. Mission 1, Needle Elimination 1 of 2

**Thanks for viewing my first story! This is a story in progress, and will be revised occasionally. I plan to post part 2 once i get 10 views! (I'm new here, so that's big for me.) This WILL be a series. Disclaimer: I do NOT own Halo, I own only Fireteam Storm, Harr 'Latel, S-Construct, and all custom weapons (These will appear) Thanks again! -Construct**

Inside a Small Pathway In A Remote Jungle On Unknown Planet, ¼ Mile From A Large Covenant Landing Pad.

"Right, so how are we doing this again?"

The Spartan clad in COMMANDO Spartan Armor sighed, then calmly began explaining the plan again. "Simple. In about 15 minutes, a Covenant Carrier is going to preform a planetary landing here carrying a payload of crystal ammo for those Needlers the Grunts love so much. Our job is to take it out. Sam here is going to assist Jacob in getting in the ship as soon as the door opens with a FENRIS Nuke. You, Hammond, and I are going to give them fire support to get them in there. As soon as Sam and Jacob get the bomb in there and prime it, we're all going to get the heck out of here, while Hammond covers their escape. Then, we detonate the bomb, and no more Needler problems for a loong time. Got it?"

The Spartan Walking Across From Him In ORBITAL-Class Armor Nodded. "Understood. Hey Sam, How You Doing?" Another Spartan, Don In WARRIOR Armor For Increased Mobility Said, "As Good As I Can Be When I'm About To Dash Into A Covie Carrier. Hey, How About You Ask Our 'Bomb Expert'?"

The Last Spartan In The Little Group Shrugged. "Fine, But I'm Not A Bomb Expert Sam. So I Did A Little Research. This Mission Is The Only Reason I'm Wearing This Stuff." He Was Referring To The E.O.D. (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Armor He Was Now Wearing. "Still Surprised The Ordnance Commission Gave Us The Ability To Switch Armor As Necessary."

The COMMANDO-wearing Spartan, Who Seemed To Be The Team Leader Said, "Well, We're A Special Team, And If We're Going To Keep That Ranking We're Going To Have To Take Out This Ship." The Others Nodded. The Path Died Away, And The Small Group Reached The Foot Of A Hill, And Dashed Up It, Halting Below The Crest, Then Peeking Over. Their Eyes Were Met By A Huge Flat Space, Teeming With Covenant. They Had Found The Landing Zone.

The Landing Zone Was Mainly A Large Platform, Perfectly Flat, With A Few Towers Looming Up That Where Meant To Help Suspend The Ship While The Antigrav Systems On Board Underwent Refueling/Repairs. On The East Side, Another Purple Tower Was Built, Much Thicker Than The Others. On Top, A Large Green Window Seemed To Oversee The Whole Place. On The Pad Itself, Some Ghosts Hovered Around. A Few Wraiths, Removed Of Their Weapons, Seemed To Be Towing Repulsorlift Trailers. A Number Of Elites Were Giving Orders To Some Grunts. Fireteam Storm Had Come Up On The North Side.

"Interesting," Remarked Jacob. "The Covenant Don't Usually Use Massive Landing Pads Like This."

"Guess The Covenant Thought It Would Be Simpler To Just Clear It Out," Answered Mickey, The ORBITAL Spartan.

Axel, The Team Leader, Interrupted, "Hang On, The Landing Zone Is Getting Some Activity. I Think Our Ship Is Inbound. Now would be a good time to check your nuke, Jacob." He Activated His Mini Comm Suite. "Hammond, Do You Read?"

"Yes Sir, I Read You," Responded A Female Voice.

"What's It Look Like Up There?"

The Location Of Which The Team Leader Was Speaking Was A Stony Alcove High In A Rock Formation, Located In The Mountains North Of The Landing Zone. This Alcove Had A Commanding, Yet Hidden View Of The LZ That The Rest Of The Team Was About To Raid. The Spartan Who Had Just Responded Was Spartan Hammond Waters.

She Was Clad In VENATOR armor, and armed with a Sniper Rifle, Looking Out Over The LZ. "Looks Good, Axel. The Carrier Is Coming In Now, and It looks like you'll be Well Positioned For A Run In. They'll Never Know What Hit Them."

Meanwhile, On The LZ's Main Tower...

(-) Sangheli And Unggoy Translator Activated (-)

"How Long Till Landing?" An Elite In Red Commander Armor Was Pacing Around The Command Room With a Large, Green-Tinted Viewport And Several Monitors.

"The Carrier Will Land In 30 Seconds, Commander," A Grunt Responded.

"Good. We Need Those Crystals Unloaded Immediately, The Didact's Hand Does Not Like To Be Kept Waiting."

Another Elite In Storm-Class Armor Walked Over To Him And Said, "It's A Good Thing That The Ship Even Made It Here, The Human's Futile Attempt To Intercept It Was Unexpected."

"Yes," Responded The Commander. "Yes, Unexpected To Say The Least."

A Grunt Imperial Hesitantly Walked Toward The Commander. "What Is It?" Said the Menacing Elite.

"Sir, The Ship Has Just Landed, We're About To Begin Unloading Procedures.

"Good! Get It Done, And Be Quick About It!" The Commander Cried. The Grunt Rushed Off, While The Commander Turned To Look Out The Window.

Back to the small group on the edge of the LZ, Jacob's POV.

"Oh Boy. The Ship's Landed," I Think To Myself. Axel, The Team Leader, Turns To Me And Says, "You Ready?"

"Yep. Nuke's Good, Railgun's Loaded, Let's Go. Sam?" Sam Glances At Me, Nods, Then Turns His Head Toward The Carrier's Cargo Doors. "Let's Go."

Axel Says Into His Helmet, "Hear That Hammond? Time To Start The Fun. Clear Up There? Great." He Looks Back At Me, Saying, "Alright Then, On 3. I Turn Myself Toward The Cargo Doors. "1…" Is That An Elite Warrior? "2…" Well, There's My First Target. I Tense Up, And I Can Sense Sam Doing The Same. "3!"


	2. Mission 1, Needle Elimination 2 of 2

**Well, That Was Quick! Glad To See People Care About This To Some Degree! Well, Here's Part 2 As Promised! (Still Jacob's POV)**

"3!" And With That, We We're Off Like The Land Was Being Glassed Behind Us. The Landing Pad Explodes With The Cover Fire Promised To Us. Axel, Mickey, And Hammond Were Shooting Down Anything That Got In Our Way. The Elite Warrior I Was So Intent On Taking Out Turned To Us, Aimed His Carbine, And Was Knocked To The Side Dead With A Stream Of Vapor. Nice Kill Steal, Hammond.

I Activate My Helmet Communicator With The Rest Of The Team. I Hear Everyone Picking Their Targets Out To One Another. "I Got That Jackal!" "I'll Take Care Of The Elites." Then I Hear Mick Say, "Right Then, I'll Just Keep Mowing Down The Grunts." I Know He Loves Headshotting Those Things.

By Now, Sam's A Good Few Meters Ahead Of Me. Guess That Warrior Armor Is Paying Off. We're Almost To The Entrance, But….. Wait. When Did That Wraith Show Up?!

"Hammond, See That Wraith?!" Sam Yells. "Yep." "Pop The Hatch, Will Ya?" The Wraith Fires A Mortar, And I Dodge It By Inches. A Second Later, Another Sniper Shot Rings Out, And The Entrance To The Cockpit Flies Off. In An Instant, Sam Changes Direction And Charges The Wraith.

"Jacob! Get In The Cruiser!" Yells Axel. He Doesn't Need To Tell Me Twice. I Dash Into The Beam Of The Gravity Lift, And I Rise Up.

As Soon As I Get Up, There Are Elites, Grunts, And Jackals Everywhere. They're All So Excited About The Attack, They Forget To Look At The Grav Lift As They Ready Their Weapons. Before Any Of Them Wise Up, I Hide Behind Some Crates. "Sam?"

"I'm Fine, But That Wraith May Be In Some Trouble." A Second Later, Sam Shoots Up The Lift, While A Resounding BOOM Sounds From Outside. "Hope That Elite Likes Frag Bits In His Wraith-Or What's Left Of It."

"Get Over Here, Before Anyone Sees You!" I Hiss. Sam Dashes Over. He Always Did Do Things Quickly. He Whispers To Me, "Right, So Where Do We Blow This Thing?"

"Well, Here Would Be Alright, But It's A Bit Hot, And The Bomb Would Probably Be Noticed By The Time We're Out Of Here."

"So We Should Get A Little Farther In?"

"Exactly."

Suddenly My Comm Unit Lights Up. "Sam! Jacob!" It's Axel. "I Think The Covies Figured Out Were Mickey and I Are. We're Going To Have To Fall Back To The Evac Point, And Hammond Is Changing Position To Avoid Notice. You Won't Have Any Cover Fire For About 10 Minutes, So You'll Have To Stick In There. I Suggest Planting The Bomb And Hiding There For A Bit, Than Making A Mad Dash Out."

"Understood Sir. We'll Stick It Out Here." I Turn To Sam. "Right Then, Let's Find A Better Position." I Peek Out And Preform A Quick Scan Of The Area. By Now, The Room Has Somewhat Cleared Out As Troops Went Down Below To Secure The Area On The Ground. Looks Like A Few Wraiths That Were Being Stored In The Area Also Went Out. However, The Last Vehicles In The Cargo Bay, A Triplet Of Ghosts, Still Remained. Perfect.

I Duck My Head Back In. "Okay, So This Just Got Harder And Easier," I Start. "Most Of The Troops, As Well As The Only Ground Vehicles On The Ship Most Likely, Have Left. However, There Are A Few Ghosts Left That Will Get Us Through Those Forces. There Are A Few Elites And Grunts Left, Although We Should Be Able To Take Em' Out Quick.

"Then Let's Do It!"

"Right, We Should Take Out The Elites Before They Alert Everyone. Then, We'll Get The Grunts."

"Okay, On 3. 1…..2…..3!"

We Leap Out Of Our Cover And Instantly Start Unloading, Sam With His Assault Rifle, Me With My Railgun. Within Moments, The 3 Elites Are Down, And The Grunts Are Panicked. While I'm Reloading My Railgun, Sam Does The Honors Of Taking Out The Grunts. "Be Careful Not To Let Any Down The Grav Lift!" I Remind Sam.

About 60 Seconds Of Us Leaving Our Cover, All Hostiles Are Eliminated. We Move To A Door, And It Opens. The Hallway Is Empty, And We Creep Slowly Through The Corriders Until We Reach A Larger-Than-Average Door. It Opens, And We Find Ourselves In The Middle Of A Massive Room Jam-Packed With Containers Filled With Hot-Pink Rock.

"Wow…" Breathes Sam. "So This Is Our Target…. Crates And Crates Of Explosive Needles."

"And Also The Perfect Place To Plant The Bomb," I Respond. "If We Do It Right, We Can Rig It So When We Detonate The Bomb, We Can Start A Supercombine Chain Reaction That Will Not Only Add To The Boom, But Also Eliminate Any Crystals To Be Salvaged!"

"Perfect! So Where Do We Put It?"

"Hmm… Inside A Container Would Be Ideal… That One! I'll Start Planting The Bomb, Meanwhile, You Open Every Crystal Container You Find. That Way The Reaction Will Be Easier to Set Off."

"Right."

"While He Moves Away, I Walk Over To The Container. I Open It Carefully, Then Remove The Bomb From Its Magnetic Latch On My Back. "You Know," I Think To Myself, "I Think This Is How Master Chief Got Rid Of That Forerunner Ship That Destroyed New Phoenix's Population." I Place The Nuke Against The Crystal, And Tell It To Sync. This Is Why I Brought E.O.D. Armor, It's Meant For This. It Could Handle Excessive Radiation If Necessary. A Panel On My Wrist Armor Opens Up, And I Start Punching In Commands And Timings.

"Hey Jacob, You Alright In There?" My Com System Crackles.

"Yes Hammond, We're Fine. The Bomb's Almost Planted, And Sam's Helping By Opening Containers."

"Good. I've Got Eyes On the Landing Zone, But It Doesn't Look Good. There Are A Few Wraiths And Ghosts In The Area, And It Won't Be Long Before They Realize That You Guys Disappeared. You Have A Way Out?"

"Yeah, We Found A Few Ghosts In The Cargo Hold. We Should Be Alright If We're Quick."

"Right Then, Let Me Know When You Leave, Hammond Out."

I Check The Bomb One Last Time. It's Set To Go Off In 20:00 Minutes, Or As Soon As My Suit Gives The Word. "Sam?"

"Yeah? Bomb Planted?"

"Affirmative. Let's Get The Heck Out Of Here."

"Terrific, I Reckon I Got Through About 20 Containers." His Southern Accent Shows Through. Remarkable How Almost All Of Our Team Is From Somewhere In The Southern U.S.A.

I Punch In One Last Command On My Wrist pad, Activating The Timer. We Meet Up, And Slip Out The Door. A Little Ways Down The Hall, We Come Face-To-Face With A Pair Of Elites. Warriors.

Seconds Later, I'm Reloading My Railgun, And Sam Is Examining The Bodies. "Hey, Lookie Here! Found A Hologram Module! I'm Takin' This Home!"

"Come On Sam, We Have To Get Out Of Here!" A Minute Later, We're Back In The Cargo Hold, Hopping In Two Ghosts. "Hammond?"

"Still Here. You Coming Out?"

"Yeah, Like Now. The Bomb's Going To Go Off In Max 15 Minutes."

"Alright Then, GO!"

And We're Off-Again. We Rocket Out Into The Lift, And Seconds Later We're Tearing Past-Or Over- Any Covies In Our Way. Suddenly, A Banshee Swoops Over Us At Full Speed. Crap, I Think It's Trying To Follow Us, Get Rid Of Our Way Out. Darn, These Guys Are Smart, They Must Have Realized We Didn't Have Anything With Us, And Had Done Something Inside!

The Banshee Continues To Follow Us, And Is Then Joined By Another. Then, A Bolt Of Blue Connects With The Banshee, And Then Another. The Thing Explodes Just As We Make It Into The Jungle. And What Do We See But Axel And Mickey In A Gauss Hog, With Mick At The Wheel! I Forgot That We Brought That!

"You Gonna Stare At Us Or Leave?!" Axel Yells. We Immediately But On The Boost Out Of There While Axel Swivels Around And Takes More Pot-Shots At The Other Banshee.

Inside The Landing Zone Control Tower

(-) Sangheli And Unggoy Translator Activated (-)

"Where Are They?!" The Commander Elite From Chapter 1 Was Pacing Again, And Was A Lot Madder Than Before. Mainly Because A Pair Of Humans Had Managed To Dash Straight Past His Trained Troops INTO A Ship! "As Near As We Can Tell, They Are Leaving As Quick As They Can, Sir," Responded Another Elite, Sitting At A Monitor.

Then, An Imperial Grunt – The Same One As Before – Ran Up And Said, "Sir! We've Just Received Word From One Of The Officers On The Carrier! He Said That No One Ever Saw The Humans, And He Suspects They Planted Something On The Ship!"

The Commander Thought For A Second. "That Would Explain Why They Are In Such A Hurry To Leave…. Alright! There Isn't Any Choice!" The Infuriated Elite Growled, And then Said, "Evacuate The Area. We Have Plenty Of Other Weapons, If We Have To Lose The Needlers For Awhile, Then So Be It. The Humans Have Won This Day." He Then Growled Under His Breath, "But I, Harr 'Latel, Will See To It These Demons Are Destroyed The First Chance I Get."

Back Outside

"Woo! There's Our Ride!" Sam Yells As We Pull Up Next To A Pelican, Hidden In The Forest. A Few Moments Later, Hammond Shows Up On A Mongoose.

"Glad To See You Made It!" She Says.

I Pull Up The Timer On My Helmet's HUD. 7:34 And Counting. "Right, Let's Get The Heck Out Of Here!"

We Hitch Up The Hog, And Pile Into The Pelican, With The Mongoose Inside. Axel Takes The Controls, And We Lift Out Of The Forest. When We're About A Mile From The Landing Site, I Direct Everyone's Attention To The Rearview Camera Of The Pelican. I Flip Open My Wristpad, Punch In A Few Keys, And The Timer On My HUD Dials Down To 0:00. Precisely 2 Seconds Later, The Carrier Explodes In A Massive BOOM of Orange And Pinkish-Purple. I Turn To Everyone In The Hold, And We All Say The Same Thing: "Mission Accomplished."


	3. Spartan Town, Construct

**Now For Chapter 3, Sam's POV!**

Our Pelican docked aboard the UNSC Infinity, or to us, home and the biggest darn ship humans have ever made. After debriefing with Spartan Miller and Palmer, we headed to Spartan Town. This portion of the ship, located in the underside of the hull, was the residential quarters, armory, and armor fitting room for all Spartans aboard Infinity. In other words, home aboard home.

I always liked this place. As soon as our team exited the shipwide tram, we were greeted by the armor room. This massive space housed hundreds of robotic rings designed specifically for the putting on and taking off of MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor. As we each marched to our own rings, a few of the specialists activated the robo-halos. The arms got to work, unhinging or screwing all the latches, and packing the armor away to be sent to our quarters. All except for Jacob, who had his special-order E.O.D. Armor sent to the ship's reserve. As the armor came off, I couldn't help but feel refreshed in the cool air of the room.

This was one of the more brightly lit portions of Infinity, never dim, but bright and often busy. Now, though, there was not much activity. Our mission with the Needle carrier was the reason Infinity was in this system, aside from a few isolated operations, there was no one currently deployed. As soon as our remaining Spartans got back from the planet, Infinity would exit it's hiding place from behind the planet's moon and make a trip back to earth.

After unarming, we went back to our quarters. Though compact, they were comfortable. I shared a room with Mick, mainly due to personal preferences. He and I were good friends. While he went immediately into the bathroom to take a shower, I flopped down on our bunk bed, and picked up my holopad. Until further notice or our arrival at Earth, Fireteam Storm would be resting.

I activated the holopad, unlocked, and launched the program linked to the Infinity's Operations and status. Out of curiosity, I clicked on 'Spartan Deployment' and 'Operations In-Progress.' Hm, only 2 operatives active. One was Fireteam Castle, sent to set up a surveillance drone, and the other….. Instead of a Fireteam name, it said only 'S-Construct.' Wonder who that could be….

**Switching To S-Construct POV...**

Well this was not how I expected my day to go. Stuck in the left bay of a Spirit dropship, captured by Covenant. Thank goodness that they didn't notice my Warthog, located only a hundred feet away.

I had been on a stealth mission, supposed to eliminate a small plasma stock not too far from a larger outpost. Unlucky for me, a jackal had gotten separated from his patrol – and run into me, crawling around in the rocks. And of course, this jackal had a hidden com unit, and by the time he laid dead, the alarm was out. Before I knew it, I suddenly had a squad of elites and a whole mess of grunts after me. All of which were told to take me alive. Not to mention a pair of aforementioned Spirits. So much for stealth, darn Jackal.

I figured that rather than blast through them and bring more attention from the outpost to me, I would let them take me with little resistance, in which I made sure to eliminate no one but the few jackals in the group. I knew that they were already riled up about anything human, based on Fireteam Storm's mission I had heard about, and the muffled BOOM I heard an hour ago.

The Spirit's deployment bay was dark, and a little cramped. Sure, I had plenty of headroom, as it was designed to hold even taller Elites, but there was little room to move around, especially as I was confined. From the looks of it, this Spirit was modified to hold prisoners. I had activated my ROGUE helmet's tracking, and radioed in to Infinity, telling them I may be a bit late. I looked out my tiny viewport, and saw we were approaching a small purple building. Well, hey, was that plasma stacked up outside? Looks like the Covies had ferried me straight to my target, perfect! The hatch opened, and I was roughly shoved into the building. Great, yet another dim and depressing purple space.


	4. Construct's Interrogation

**Okay, Here's Chapter 4, S-Construct's POV.**

Okay, let's see: I'm stuck in a Covenant building, unarmed, surrounded and held down by a pair angry looking Elites. Great. Another Elite walks in, wearing Commander-class armor. He's holding a Plasma repeater in one hand. He looks at me, and growls. Not surprised. He walks toward me, and starts talking. Good thing I activated my Shangheli Translator.

"What are you doing here? You have come were you should not, Demon!" Yep, He's mad. "Who are you, and why did you come?"

Let's hope they have their human translator on. "My name is Mr. Demon Kickyabutt, and I came here to throw a tea party. Now, this isn't how you treat guests, now, is it?"

The Elite growled again. "Your humor will not get you anywhere, Demon. I know it was your filthy kind that destroyed one of our cruisers an hour ago. "Tell us where they went, and perhaps we'll spare your pitiful carcass."

Pitiful?! This is custom top-of-the-line Rogue Spartan-IV Armor, and I'm rather proud of my modifications. Not to mention worn by one of the greatest single-spartan operatives, with years of experience as a Marine. "Mr. Kickyabutt does not betray his friends, and besides, we both know that given the chance, you'd skewer me in 2 seconds.

The Elite brandishes his plasma repeater, and gets in my face. "Do you see this weapon? I have killed many Spartans with it, even on Reach. I would take more than a little pleasure at melting your helmet off.

I study the weapon. Yep, it's a beauty, colored gold, and painted with sky-blue markings. Wait, are those… yep, there are Spartan Dog-tags adorning the weapon's stock!

"You see this tag here?" He points, "I took this from a human who fought off some of my strongest officers. He especially deserved the death he got."

"SPARTAN-B312," I read. Wait, wasn't that the number of Noble Six? Wow, this guy killed THE Noble Six? Congrats, Split-mouth, you are now on my kill priority list. "So, since you seem to be so keen on getting chummy with me, how about you tell me your name?"

"I will not. You do not deserve that honor, pestilence," he responds. "Now, again, tell us where the rest of you are hiding, and perhaps you will not die as painfully.

"You're kidding right? Why the heck would I do that if I'm going to die anyway?"

"Well then, perhaps we should show you what your failure to comply will bring. Bring him out to the Spirit, we'll take him to the outpost." The angry Commander walks out of the room.

The Elites roughly pull me up, and start to drag me outside. That was a big mistake. I use the leverage of not being held down to tear free of the Elites. Within 10 seconds, I'm holding a Carbine,with a storm rifle on my back, and equipped with plasma grenades while the Elites are boarding the bus bound for 'Great Journey.'

Okay, it's going to be seconds before the Covies come in and see the mess. Now would be a good time for an exit. I form up on the side of the wall. An elite comes in, followed by a few grunts. As soon as they see the bodies of their brothers, I'm out the door. Right into a squad of jackals and grunts. Not to mention the angry Commander. "Right, then. Who wants a bullet in the brain?"

**Thanks for reading this far! I plan to add more chapters soon. Review would be appreciated!**


	5. Back To Infinity

**Ok, we're still in CONSTRUCT's POV. I plan to post something for Fireteam Storm next episode.**

The Pelican shot free of the planet's atmosphere, and quickly rocketed off towards the moon. Once it got there, it continued around to meet the city-sized visage of the UNSC _Infinity._

The same drop ship approached _Infinity_, and moved in to one of the many hangars. It floated through the ambient blue force-field separating deep space from a bustling oxygen environment, and landed gracefully on the steel floor. The warthog hitched to the Pelican was dropped, the hatch opened, and out walked a lone Spartan-IV, carrying a beam rifle, and a railgun on his back. Clad in blue and cyan ROGUE armor, he got in the warthog, and drove off to a vehicle corridor.

Having parked his hog in the garage nearest Spartan Town, he got in one of the many shipwide trams, and it rocketed off towards Spartan Command aboard _Infinity_. A minute later, he got out, and walked into the debriefing room. He was shortly greeted by another Spartan wearing gray and green Enforcer armor, with the helmet in the crook of his arm. He was Spartan Tegon, an officer in charge of most of the independent Spartans onboard. The blue Spartan saluted crisply, and the officer smiled.

"At ease, Construct." Tegon was one of the few people onboard _Infinity_ who talked to the loner like a friend. "So, what happened down there, your transmission said you would be a bit delayed."

S-Construct relaxed a bit, and answered, "Covenant captured me, and I didn't see any good with making a huge fuss. Brought me straight to my objective, and got some nice conversation with a Commander. Took some effort, but I was able to get free and blow the Plasma stock sky high, Sir."

Tegon furrowed his brow. "What about the commander?"

"Escaped in a phantom. I had to wrench my weapons away from a few of his cronies. Believe it or not, this guy allegedly killed Noble Six. I for one hope to meet up with him and give him a piece of my mind."

The officer cocked his head, thought for a second, and said, "Interesting. I'll be sure to tell Commander Palmer about this. S-Construct, you are dismissed. Have a nice day."

The ROGUE Spartan saluted again, and walked out. Once again boarding the shuttle, he quickly made it over to the barracks at Spartan Town. Walking toward his room, he passed another Spartan with a towel over his shoulder. He looked like he just came from the gym. The fellow warrior stopped, then turned around and followed him.

Catching up with Construct, he said, "Hey, you plan to keep your armor on? Not going to be very confortable in the shower.

S-Construct's blue visor turned to face the talker. "Yes, I do. I prefer to be able to go other places quickly without a stop to the armory."

The newcomer smiled and said, "All right then, have it your way. My name's Mick, by the way. Vehicular Specialist of Fireteam Storm, at your service."

"Nice to meet you. Sorry, but I have to go." Construct stopped at a door, punched in a number code, then stepped in.

Construct's room was like the other Spartan's rooms, however this one had a workstation containing a holo-desktop, a few odd tools, some random mechanical bits, a magnum and a pilfered plasma pistol. Construct set down his Beam Rifle and Railgun on a pair of shelves on the wall, and picked up one of the tools. This tool was designed to fit into the small sockets that held his armor on his bodysuit, allowing him to take it off bit-by-bit. He then put the armor in a shelf on the wall and pressed a few keys next to it. The armor was rocketed off the armory, ready for its next use.

Now that he had free time until next deployment, he sat down at the station and picked up the Plasma Pistol. It was operating on a full charge, and he wanted to take a look at it before going to talk to the 'Eggheads.'

This Spartan made it a point to familiarize himself with every piece of tech he use regularly. This, coupled with his interest in solar technology, had made it so he spent a few weeks with Infinity's scientests tuning a Covenant beam rifle, adding an apparatus that could use solar energy to recharge it. This weapon was Construct's signature tool, and had served him over several missions.

So now, with a purloined plasma pistol, he planned to reverse-engineer the tech, and possibly increase battery life, as well as figuring out how to charge it. Picking up another tool, he began carefully dismantling it.


	6. Welcome to the War Games

Nighttime, when everything goes dark and everyone stops to rest. When everyone puts away their work, stops their play, and sleeps, waiting for the next day. There was little difference on the jungle planet. The Covenant there had put away their work and gone to bed, only the sentries watching for trouble had stayed awake.

At one of the sentry posts, a pair of jackals looked out into the night. One in sniper wear, he held a beam rifle, and swept the area with his cyclonic mask optics, back and forth. His companion was a little less attentive, and would occasionally look up into the stars, and at the bright glowing moon. He wondered why they were out here, their elite commander hadn't issued sentries before. Perhaps he was nervous, the distant explosion they had heard the day before, and the excited transmissions over the comms hadn't sounded reassuring.

The Kig-yar shook his head and looked up again, at the bright white moon. A little twinkle seemed to emerge from behind it, and moved away. Another, slightly larger speck of light appeared in front of it, and as the two met they simply disappeared. Then, there was nothing there but the stars. The jackal stared there for a few more seconds, before shrugging and continuing his lonely search, the sniper by his side.

"ALL HANDS, PREPARE FOR SLIPSPACE JUMP."

The intercom blared throughout the Infinity. In the quarters of Hammond Waters, the Spartan continued cleaning her sniper rifle. The Spartan-IV would not be affected by the turbulence that would soon ensue, her genetic enhancements reducing the load. Besides, there wasn't a lot of rumbling to worry about anyway.

Next door, Axel Lenovo was reviewing battle stats and comparing fireteam records. He always preferred to pass the time figuring out how to fight better, how to be a better leader. Right now he was comparing His team's performance to that of Fireteam Crimson. If the Marines considered Spartans to be the big boys, then Crimson was the father. Some of the best UNSC Fighters to come around since the John-117, they were on that Fireteam.

Sighing, Axel put down the tablet. He considered taking a nice bath, or heading to the gym. He wasn't just a fighter, he liked to relax sometimes. Opting for the bath, he walked into the bathroom and started running the water.

Across the hall, Sam and Mickey emerged from the same room and started walking down the corridor. "So, what's it going to be today, Mick?" Sam was referring to the war games training simulations, a simulation that could create massive battles with multiple Spartans, right down to the last flower in a field or drop of spilled blood.

"Hmm, how about some Longbow BTB?" Always opting for the larger maps, Mick enjoyed about any War Game with a vehicle. In addition to being an ideal training machine, many of the Spartans onboard_ Infinity_ enjoyed the Simulated battles like a form of recreation.

"Sounds good to me!" Said Sam, and they soon rounded the corner to the War Games Room. Walking into the nearest open simulation chamber, they joined the 'server,' ready to fight whatever the game threw at them.


End file.
